I was assigned a new solo. I was very excited because it was one of my first solos and it was a really fun bridge to a song that had a catchy melody and a BOPPIN (acoustic) beat. I practiced for hours. However, I was mainly practicing the other 30 songs in our set and didn't spend a lot of time on the solo. "No worries" I thought, "Its just a short, simple bridge. I'll brush up the day of and it'll be gravy."

so the day of the concert came, and my typical jitters were covered up by lame, dad jokes that eventually spilled out into my introduction in front of the several hundred people attending. As we made our way through the set, we soon came to THE song. I stepped out from behind the safety of my keyboard as this was a song that didn't require my ivory ticklers. I sang some "Oos" and "Ahhs" in the background, anxiously awaiting my time to shine. The problem was, without the keyboard to occupy my hands, I closely resembled a stick man puppet in the hands of a child when trying to "move" with the music. Unfortunately, no one was more aware of this fact than I, and it consumed most of my thoughts while performing.

In fact, it consumed my thoughts to the point of me forgetting the lyrics of my solo. As line by line we got closer to the moment I was supposed to step up and blast some bars, the panic in my chest grew and I began to nervously smile, frantically racking my brain for a word to trigger my memory. The chorus before my bridge began...

still nothing.

So, I began to bop across the stage, asking each person in a frantic, speedy whisper "HOW DOES THE BRIDGE GO??" in between melodious background vocals. Each person, unwilling to sacrifice professionalism to look at me and help, just subtly shook their head and kept singing. The drummer laughed. The guitarist just raised his eyebrows with a closed mouth smile (he had no idea what I said).

Alas, I ran out of time. I asked the last member on stage that could help, who happened to be the road manager. But there was no way she could tell me in time for me to get the words out of my mouth. I was flushed with embarrassment and anxiety at this point (I think).

But Priscilla is a professional. She just stepped forward and sang it like it was the plan all along. After the concert she said she could hear me asking each person ALL the way across the stage. I received a brief lecture about professionalism onstage, and then a lot of teasing for several years.

It's probably one of my favorite mishaps of my time in Endless Praise. Happy Sabbath!